The present invention relates generally to methods and systems for alerting a user to clean an appliance.
Conventional heating devices operate at one power level during a given heating cycle. To improve heating time, one solution has been to increase the power of the heating device. For example, to improve the heating time in a toaster, attempts have been made to increase the power in a standard two-slice toaster from approximately 850 watts to approximately 1400 watts. To obtain consistent toast color, if the power is increased, the toasting time is decreased. In particular, toast color has been found to be related to the power multiplied by the toasting time. For example, in an 850-watt toaster, a given slice of bread may be toasted to a medium color in approximately 120 seconds. Thus, a medium color would require 102,000 watt-seconds. If the power were raised to 1400 watts, the same slice of bread would require only 73 seconds to obtain a medium color.
Although high-powered heating devices heat food more quickly, as the heating power is increased, the food has less time to cook properly. Thus, the food tends to sear on the surface, while the inside remains cool and uncooked. This blackened food item is not only unappealing in appearance, but the taste also is affected. Thus, these high-powered heating devices have been found to be unacceptable, and there is a need to increase heating speed without sacrificing appearance and taste.
Conventional heating devices also run the risk of setting fires due to short circuits. With increased power, conventional heating devices have an increased capacity to ignite food, and the fires set by these heating devices spread much more quickly than the fires set by lower powered heating devices. Thus, there is an increased need for additional safety features in heating devices when higher power is used.
Crumbs that accumulate in the crumb tray of a toaster also are at risk of burning. Thus, crumb trays need to be cleaned periodically. Unless the user is accustomed to cleaning the crumb tray on a regular basis, a typical user will not clean the tray until the burning crumbs remind the user that the tray needs to be cleaned.
In accordance with the present invention, a toaster is provided comprising means for activating the toaster and a counter. The counter is coupled to the activating means and is incremented upon activation of the activating means.
In accordance with the present invention, a toaster is provided comprising means for activating the toaster, a counter, a memory, and an indicator. The counter is coupled to the activating means and is incremented upon activation of the activating means. The memory stores a value of the counter. The indicator is coupled to the counter, and produces a signal when the counter reaches a set value.
In accordance with the present invention, a method is provided comprising the steps of counting a number of times a household appliance is activated, determining when the number reaches a set value, and when it is determined that the number reaches the set value, providing an indication that the number reached the set value.
Other systems, methods, features and advantages of the invention will be or will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.